IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i20p8442-d427514.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment of Geotechnical Works in Building Construction: A Review and Recommendations

Author

Listed:
  • Xingqiang Song

    (Swedish Geotechnical Institute, Olaus Magnus väg 35, 58193 Linköping, Sweden)

  • Christel Carlsson

    (Swedish Geotechnical Institute, Olaus Magnus väg 35, 58193 Linköping, Sweden)

  • Ramona Kiilsgaard

    (Swedish Geotechnical Institute, Olaus Magnus väg 35, 58193 Linköping, Sweden)

  • David Bendz

    (Swedish Geotechnical Institute, Olaus Magnus väg 35, 58193 Linköping, Sweden)

  • Helene Kennedy

    (Swedish Geotechnical Institute, Olaus Magnus väg 35, 58193 Linköping, Sweden)

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is becoming an increasingly important environmental systems analysis tool in the construction sector for the identification of measures and strategies to reduce the environmental impact of buildings throughout the whole value chain. Geotechnical processes, such as earthworks, ground improvement and foundation construction, are often energy- and resource-intensive. Geotechnical works can thus play an important role in moving towards more sustainable building construction practices. This article reviews recent applications of LCA of buildings, including foundations as the focus or part of the system studied, based on the ISO 14040/44 standards. The system boundaries of geotechnical works are defined and a conceptual model for LCA of geotechnical works in building construction is proposed. The results of the literature review showed that the application of LCA to the building substructure is currently under development, but still in a fragmented state. There is a need for a unified framework for LCA of geotechnical works in building construction, especially regarding the definition of the functional unit, the choice of system boundaries, the appropriateness of inventory data, and the selection of impact categories. The conceptual model focuses on the demonstration of inventory flows and system boundaries and can serve as a basis for scope definition in future LCA studies of geotechnical works in building construction. It may also support effective communication between different actors and stakeholders regarding environmental sustainability in the construction sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Xingqiang Song & Christel Carlsson & Ramona Kiilsgaard & David Bendz & Helene Kennedy, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Geotechnical Works in Building Construction: A Review and Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8442-:d:427514
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8442/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8442/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antonio Ángel Rodríguez Serrano & Santiago Porras Álvarez, 2016. "Life Cycle Assessment in Building: A Case Study on the Energy and Emissions Impact Related to the Choice of Housing Typologies and Construction Process in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-29, March.
    2. Cabeza, Luisa F. & Rincón, Lídia & Vilariño, Virginia & Pérez, Gabriel & Castell, Albert, 2014. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle energy analysis (LCEA) of buildings and the building sector: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 394-416.
    3. Buyle, Matthias & Braet, Johan & Audenaert, Amaryllis, 2013. "Life cycle assessment in the construction sector: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 379-388.
    4. Jonggeon Lee & Sungho Tae & Rakhyun Kim, 2018. "A Study on the Analysis of CO 2 Emissions of Apartment Housing in the Construction Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Anand, Chirjiv Kaur & Amor, Ben, 2017. "Recent developments, future challenges and new research directions in LCA of buildings: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 408-416.
    6. Pomponi, Francesco & Moncaster, Alice, 2018. "Scrutinising embodied carbon in buildings: The next performance gap made manifest," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2431-2442.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Wałach, 2020. "Analysis of Factors Affecting the Environmental Impact of Concrete Structures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Ester Pujadas-Gispert & Joost G. Vogtländer & S. P. G. (Faas) Moonen, 2021. "Environmental and Economic Optimization of a Conventional Concrete Building Foundation: Selecting the Best of 28 Alternatives by Applying the Pareto Front," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, February.
    3. von der Tann, Loretta & Ritter, Stefan & Hale, Sarah & Langford, Jenny & Salazar, Sean, 2021. "From urban underground space (UUS) to sustainable underground urbanism (SUU): Shifting the focus in urban underground scholarship," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mastrucci, Alessio & Marvuglia, Antonino & Leopold, Ulrich & Benetto, Enrico, 2017. "Life Cycle Assessment of building stocks from urban to transnational scales: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 316-332.
    2. Mastrucci, Alessio & Marvuglia, Antonino & Benetto, Enrico & Leopold, Ulrich, 2020. "A spatio-temporal life cycle assessment framework for building renovation scenarios at the urban scale," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    3. Charles Breton & Pierre Blanchet & Ben Amor & Robert Beauregard & Wen-Shao Chang, 2018. "Assessing the Climate Change Impacts of Biogenic Carbon in Buildings: A Critical Review of Two Main Dynamic Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-30, June.
    4. Xabat Oregi & Rufino Javier Hernández & Patxi Hernandez, 2020. "Environmental and Economic Prioritization of Building Energy Refurbishment Strategies with Life-Cycle Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-22, May.
    5. Zhang, Chunbo & Hu, Mingming & Laclau, Benjamin & Garnesson, Thomas & Yang, Xining & Tukker, Arnold, 2021. "Energy-carbon-investment payback analysis of prefabricated envelope-cladding system for building energy renovation: Cases in Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    6. Lee, Nayoon & Tae, Sungho & Gong, Yuri & Roh, Seungjun, 2017. "Integrated building life-cycle assessment model to support South Korea's green building certification system (G-SEED)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 43-50.
    7. Roh, Seungjun & Tae, Sungho, 2017. "An integrated assessment system for managing life cycle CO2 emissions of a building," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 265-275.
    8. Thibodeau, Charles & Bataille, Alain & Sié, Marion, 2019. "Building rehabilitation life cycle assessment methodology–state of the art," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 408-422.
    9. Patricia González-Vallejo & Radu Muntean & Jaime Solís-Guzmán & Madelyn Marrero, 2020. "Carbon Footprint of Dwelling Construction in Romania and Spain. A Comparative Analysis with the OERCO2 Tool," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    10. Cui, Li & Chan, Hing Kai & Zhou, Yizhuo & Dai, Jing & Lim, Jia Jia, 2019. "Exploring critical factors of green business failure based on Grey-Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 450-461.
    11. Kong, Minjin & Lee, Minhyun & Kang, Hyuna & Hong, Taehoon, 2021. "Development of a framework for evaluating the contents and usability of the building life cycle assessment tool," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Diana Carolina Gámez-García & José Manuel Gómez-Soberón & Ramón Corral-Higuera & Héctor Saldaña-Márquez & María Consolación Gómez-Soberón & Susana Paola Arredondo-Rea, 2018. "A Cradle to Handover Life Cycle Assessment of External Walls: Choice of Materials and Prognosis of Elements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-24, August.
    13. Seunguk Na & Inkwan Paik, 2019. "Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Costs with the Alternative Structural System for Slab: A Comparative Analysis of South Korea Cases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-19, September.
    14. Hannah Porter & Abhijit Mukherjee & Rabin Tuladhar & Navdeep Kaur Dhami, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Biocement: An Emerging Sustainable Solution?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-14, December.
    15. Pan, W. & Teng, Y., 2021. "A systematic investigation into the methodological variables of embodied carbon assessment of buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    16. Jaime Solís-Guzmán & Cristina Rivero-Camacho & Desirée Alba-Rodríguez & Alejandro Martínez-Rocamora, 2018. "Carbon Footprint Estimation Tool for Residential Buildings for Non-Specialized Users: OERCO2 Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, April.
    17. Pollyanna Fernandes Bianchi & Víctor Yepes & Paulo Cezar Vitorio & Moacir Kripka, 2021. "Study of Alternatives for the Design of Sustainable Low-Income Housing in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, April.
    18. Kun Lu & Xiaoyan Jiang & Vivian W. Y. Tam & Mengyun Li & Hongyu Wang & Bo Xia & Qing Chen, 2019. "Development of a Carbon Emissions Analysis Framework Using Building Information Modeling and Life Cycle Assessment for the Construction of Hospital Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-18, November.
    19. Rui Jiang & Rongrong Li, 2017. "Decomposition and Decoupling Analysis of Life-Cycle Carbon Emission in China’s Building Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    20. Helena Monteiro & Fausto Freire & John E. Fernández, 2020. "Life-Cycle Assessment of Alternative Envelope Construction for a New House in South-Western Europe: Embodied and Operational Magnitude," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-20, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8442-:d:427514. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.